Greenpeace has been accused of being anti-science over the destruction of experimental GM wheat trials in Canberra earlier this year. Greenpeace’s senior scientist, Dr Janet Cotter, is visiting Australia from the University of Exeter in the UK to counter some of the criticism. Mark Tester is a scientist who is in favour of using GM technology, and he is Professor of Plant Physiology at the University of Adelaide. In opening the discussion Dr Janet Cotter says she thinks the big issue with GM is crop contamination.

Grain traders and the WA government are refusing to divulge how much of the genetically modified canola grown in WA last year has been sold, amid reports that sales have been sluggish. While AWB claims the lack of market interest is due to low oil content and the poor finish to the growing season - and not the GM factor - non-GM canola varieties are fetching up to $50 per tonne more than GM canola. While Hansard reveals that WA Minister for Agriculture Terry Redman told parliament that grain traders advised the Department of Agriculture and Food that a significant proportion of the 49,000 tonnes of GM canola grown last year had sold, exactly how much remains unsold, sitting in silos, has proved difficult to uncover.

Yes, patented crops will feed the hungry and if companies, such as Monsanto, had their way more and more patented crops would feed the world. But that’s only because, as is pointed out in the article: “gene patents are commonplace in agriculture”. It’s not because there’s no other alternative. You see, feeding the world is one issue. How you feed the world is another. Unfortunately, Mr Gilbert confuses the two.

there are alternatives to gene patents when we are making crops for the developing world. In the case of the iron-enriched rice, the work was funded by the HarvestPlus program and the Australian Research Council. The former is a charitable organisation and the latter is funded by the Australian taxpayer. These organisations don’t expect to recoup their costs. Also, iron deficiency is largely a problem of the developing world. We need to ensure the technology is made available to as many people as possible, at the lowest possible cost. There is little likelihood of recovering development funding under these circumstances.

GENETICALLY modified canola plants have been discovered growing on the edge of major roads in Esperance, the Conservation Council says. Four teams of volunteers collected 190 stray canola plants from the edge of the South Coast Highway, Norseman Road, Condingup and Fisheries Road in Esperance, about 730km south-east of Perth.

Testing revealed two of the 190 plants were genetically modified. Conservation Council scientist and research leader Dr Nic Dunlop said the study, although small, proves that road transport of GM crops can spread the plants over vast areas, posing a risk to organic and non-GM farmers who rely on the purity of their crops for market certification.

AUSTRALIAN Centre for Plant Functional Genomics (ACPFG) chief executive officer, Professor Peter Langridge, says the Kojonup ”contamination” issue (Marsh versus Baxter case) is really about farmers’ freedom of choice and not genetically modified crops. [...] he said the organic movement was trying to prevent GM crops being grown and restrict freedom of choice for farmers, by imposing ”arbitrary and unreasonable” rules on organic produce.

TWO Greenpeace activists will face court over a raid on a CSIRO genetically modified wheat trial. [...] The two women, one aged 47 from the Sydney suburb of Willoughby and the other 34, from North Bondi, will be summonsed to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court charged with a number of offences, including trespass and damaging Commonwealth property.

Scientists from the Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics have produced rice with high enough iron levels that it meets daily recommended requirements for iron intake. [...] ’A lack of genetic variation in rice has hindered efforts by conventional breeding programs to address iron levels. These programs have not been able to achieve the level of iron and zinc in the rice grain that we are able to achieve with a biotech approach in our glasshouse experiments,’ said Dr Johnson.

WEED management expert Chris Preston is skeptical about whether glyphosate interferes with crop mineral uptake, but he’s in no doubt about the resistance problems that are emerging from injudicious use of a cheap, easy tool. Annual ryegrass, barnyard, windmill and liverseed grasses, and fleabane, have developed glyphosate-resistant populations, and Dr Preston thinks a sixth plant is about to join the list.

Speaking this week for the last time in his role as president of the federation after 10 years at the helm, Gary Sansom pointed to GMOs to secure the future of farming in Queensland. Reflecting on his time as federation president, which was marked by drought and then last summer’s floods, Mr Sansom said GM crops may provide a ”piece of the jigsaw” needed to help farmers better adapt to climate change.